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Friday, December 29, 2017

Blessings of the Magi

Dr.
Al Cummins recently posted a very interesting post about ways to work
with the Magi as a magician touching on various folk Catholic
elements, and he and Jesse Hathaway Diaz spoke about such things in
an amazing episode of Radio Free Golgotha last year. I highly
recommend checking those out.

With
Epiphany coming up, I wanted to note some elements of institutional
Catholicism which may be useful for the magician, particularly
magicians working with grimoires, especially pre-Reformation
grimoires which reflect a particularly Catholic approach, and largely
an assumption of some level of clerical capacity.

The
Feast of The Epiphany gives us the opportunity to reflect on The Magi
and the role of astrology in the biblical story, the connections to
Zoroastrianism, the symbolism of Gold Frankincense and Myrrh, and the
ability to receive direct divine and spiritual revelation at times of
importance and at times in which we are questioning what to do. It
its a time in which we ca reflect on the guidance of the one star
whose light directs us surely through the darkness. It is a time
where we can reflect on the roles of the Magi individually or on the
universal brotherhood implied by priest kings representing different
parts of the world coming together on a spiritual quest. There is a
lot there.

What
interests us from a practical grimoire perspective though is less
about reflection and more about an auspicious day for consecrating
implements. I think plenty of people will address folk Catholic
elements, and modern magical parallels and readings of symbols, and
they will engage these topics more than I would at the moment. I
think the obvious easy bit to touch is the part we'll see fewer
people looking at.

Holy
water, incense, chalk, and your space.

A
little more pedestrian sounding...but oh so exciting.

You
see, The Roman Ritual has long been a go to for magicians wanting to
say “Oh yeah, I've studied the Catholic rituals of exorcism.” But
the Roman Ritual is filled with magic. The rite of Baptism is a rite
of exorcism...so is the formula for making holy water, and also for
blessing gold frankincense and myrrh...and...well...a lot of other
bits of it are too. Out side of the preponderance of exorcisms there
are rituals to bring rain, rituals to protect cars and ships and
animals, rituals to cure sore throats.

Priests
were once magicians, and while that has gone away in practice, it is
something more slow to die in the written rituals themselves. A
grimoire magician working with Liber Juratus, The Cambridge Book, TheHeptameron, The Book of Oberon, any pre-reformation influenced book
of magic, is a magician who is expected to have some training in
these clerical rituals that we sometimes forget are also magic.

And
so on the Feast given to the Magi we have rituals which would be
useful to the magician. We bless water, we bless gold frankincense
and myrrh, we bless chalk, and we bless the home. All of these items
are those which we might use in working magic and so this is a most
appropriate time to bless our supply of such items.

The
Epiphany water is a formula much more involved than the simple
formula for exorcising salt and water and then blessing their
combination as holy water (a formula which appears in the grimoires).
The Roman Ritual says it was adopted in 1890 but is based on an old
tradition in the Eastern Church.

“This
blessing comes from the Orient, where the Church has long emphasized
in her celebration of Epiphany the mystery of our Lord's baptism, and
by analogy our baptism. This aspect is not neglected in western
Christendom, although in practice we have concentrated on the visit
of the Magi. Many years before the Latin Rite officially adopted the
blessing of Epiphany water, diocesan rituals, notably in lower Italy,
had contained such a blessing.”

– The
Roman Ritual 1964

The
magician could easily opt for the simply Holy Water form but this
more complex blessing draws on auspicious timing and in particular if
you are engaging in other work related to the Magi would tie into
that work. At the least, since Holy Water is used in a somewhat
baptismal manner at times in magic, this water is specifically
connected to that element of the story as well.

The
ritual for the Epiphany water is done the night before the Feast, and
is a bit long so I won't be including it here. It occurs as the fifth
item of the first volume of the 1964 edition of the Roman Ritual.

The
sixth item given is a blessing of Gold, Incense, and Myrrh. I would
assume in this case Frankincense would be the incense in question
however I suppose other church appropriate incenses may be
substituted. The blessing itself confers protection to those who
possess these items. You could run it as is and have a powerful
traditional blessing attached to your incenses and gold or make some
tweaks to focus more specifically on conferring magical efficacy. The
ritual includes an exorcism of demons which might be present in the
material, the infusion of divine grace, and the direction of that
grace towards the protection and intercession on behalf of the one
who possesses these items.

This
one is short enough to present here.

“6.
BLESSING OF GOLD, INCENSE, MYRRH

on
Epiphany

P:
Our help is in the name of the Lord.

All:
Who made heaven and earth.

P:
The Lord be with you.

All:
May He also be with you.

Let
us pray.

Accept,
holy Father, from me, your unworthy servant, these gifts which I
humbly offer to the honor of your holy name and in recognition of
your peerless majesty, as you once accepted the sacrifice of the just
Abel and the same kind of gifts from the three Magi.

God's
creatures, gold, incense, and myrrh, I cast out the demon from you by
the Father + almighty, by Jesus + Christ, His only-begotten Son, and
by the Holy + Spirit, the Advocate, so that you may be freed from all
deceit, evil, and cunning of the devil, and become a saving remedy to
mankind against the snares of the enemy. May those who use you, with
confidence in the divine power, in their lodgings, homes, or on their
persons, be delivered from all perils to body and soul, and enjoy all
good things. We ask this through the power and merits of our Lord and
Savior, the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
and of all the saints, in particular the godly men who on this day
venerated Christ the Lord with the very same gifts.

All:
Amen.

God,
the invisible and endless One, in the holy and awesome name of your
Son, be pleased to endow with your blessing + and power these
creatures of gold, incense, and myrrh. Protect those who will have
them in their possession from every kind of illness, injury, and
danger, anything that would interfere with the well-being of body and
soul, and so be enabled to serve you joyously and confidently in your
Church; you who live and reign in perfect Trinity, God, forever and
ever.

All:
Amen.

And
may the blessing of almighty God, Father, + Son, and Holy + Spirit,
come upon these creatures of gold, incense, and myrrh, and remain
always.

All:
Amen.

They
are sprinkled with holy water.”

The
next item presented is the blessing of the chalk. This one people
reference a little more often, probably because chalk is sometimes
given as an option for making circles and appears in various magical
traditions, but chalk isn't given instructions for blessing in as
many texts. Chalk may not be given in most grimoires but it has a
long standing association with magic and religion. Chalk deposits are
found in many British religious sites. Chalk develops from sediment
caused from fossilized organic material, therefore chalk was once
alive and is now material made from the dead. Chalk, while a stone,
has a relationship with water, providing reservoirs to hold ground
water to release in dry seasons, and growing to form cliffs and
islands against the sea. These elements linking it to earth and
water, and to the dead give it a liminal quality. In Ebeneezer
Sibly's work, which we find later quoted by Waite, quick lime, which
is derived from chalk, is used in the “burial” or burning of the
body used in necromantic rites once the magician is finished
questioning the ghost.

With
these liminal qualities around death and the underworld qualities
implied by stone and sea, the quality of celebrating life, and of
divine revelation related to the Epiphany make for the perfect
juxtaposition for completing and balancing the power of the chalk and
reflecting the overlapping qualities of things chthonic and things
celestial.

The
Blessing of the Chalk is pretty short and simple. There is no
exorcism, just a blessing, but the blessing is one which essentially
empower the chalk for use in folk magic. The faithful are instructed
to use the blessed chalk to scribe the sainted names of the Magi upon
their doors in order to bring about their intercession and blessings.

The
ritual, performed on the day of the Feast is as follows:

“BLESSING
OF CHALK

on
Epiphany

P:
Our help is in the name of the Lord.

All:
Who made heaven and earth.

P:
The Lord be with you.

All:
May He also be with you.

Bless,
+ O Lord God, this creature, chalk, and let it be a help to mankind.
Grant that those who will use it with faith in your most holy name,
and with it inscribe on the doors of their homes the names of your
saints, Casper, Melchior, and Baltassar, may through their merits and
intercession enjoy health in body and protection of soul; through
Christ our Lord.

All:
Amen.

It
is sprinkled with holy water.”

The
eighth item of volume one, and the final Epiphany item is a blessing
of the home.

Now
a blessing of the Home might seem less obviously in line with the
grimoires. You don't bless your home in the grimoires, in fact in
some instructions it would sound like you might even do magic away
from your home. In some spirit traditions we find advice to keep
certain workings out doors, or in places designated for spirit work
rather than in the living areas of the home, or in altars which can
be closed away. For most magicians though, magic is done in the home.
So blessing the home would be part of routine maintenance. Even if
you're not doing magical work in your home or your living space, you
are aware of spiritual forces which might impact your life. Routine
apotropaic work is something many magicians overlook, but which could
help prevent situations which they might later need to turn to magic
to help resolve. The Roman Ritual provides a few options for blessing
the home, in fact, the chalk blessing implies a home blessing. The
blessing of the water can be used to make water to sprinkle the home
and bless it, or the blessing of the gold incense and myrrh and
provide a protective possession to keep in the home.

The
home blessing interestingly doesn't contain an exorcism. In fact it
does not seem to be about purifying or wiping away any negativity on
the home, but, like the season of Christmastide it is a ritual of joy
and light. The magnificence of God and of his revelation through
Christ is recalled in the ritual and that shining light sanctifies
the whom and all who enter therein.

The
ritual is as follows:

“BLESSING
OF HOMES

on
Epiphany

As
the priest comes into the home he says:

P:
God's peace be in this home.

All:
And in all who live here.

P.
Ant.: Magi from the East came to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and
opening their treasure chests they presented Him with precious gifts:
gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in
symbol of His burial. Alleluia.

Canticle
of the Magnificat

Luke
1.46-55

P:
"My soul * extols the Lord;

All:
And my spirit leaps for joy in God my Savior.

P:
How graciously He looked upon His lowly maid! * Oh, see, from this
hour onward age after age will call me blessed!

All:
How sublime is what He has done for me, * the Mighty One, whose name
is 'Holy'!

P:
From age to age He visits those * who worship Him in reverence.

All:
His arm achieves the mastery: * He routs the haughty and proud of
heart.

P:
He puts down princes from their thrones, * and exalts the lowly;

All:
He fills the hungry with blessings, * and sends away the rich with
empty hands.

P:
He has taken by the hand His servant Israel, * and mercifully kept
His faith,

All:
As He had promised our fathers * with Abraham and his posterity
forever and evermore."

P:
Glory be to the Father.

All:
As it was in the beginning.

Meanwhile
the home is sprinkled with holy water and incensed. At the end of the
Magnificat the antiphon is repeated. Then the priest says Our Father
(the rest inaudibly until:)

P:
And lead us not into temptation.

All:
But deliver us from evil.

P:
Many shall come from Saba.

All:
Bearing gold and incense.

P:
Lord, heed my prayer.

All:
And let my cry be heard by you.

P:
The Lord be with you.

All:
May he also be with you.

Let
us pray.

God,
who on this day revealed your only-begotten Son to all nations by the
guidance of a star, grant that we who now know you by faith may
finally behold you in your heavenly majesty; through Christ our Lord.

All:
Amen.

Responsory:
Be enlightened and shine forth, O Jerusalem, for your light is come;
and upon you is risen the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ born of the
Virgin Mary.

Lord
God almighty, bless + this home, and under its shelter let there be
health, chastity, self-conquest, humility, goodness, mildness,
obedience to your commandments, and thanksgiving to God the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. May your blessing remain always in this home
and on those who live here; through Christ our Lord.

All:
Amen.”

Now
this last ritual as it is written would need at least two people, the
Priest, and the People. It could reasonably be modified for personal
use with the individual simply doing both the call and the response.
Some of the things desired for the home might not be the goals of all
contemporary magicians. I could easily say “well go through the
ritual as is, the words are just symbolic” but they're not. You're
praying for those things. It's not an idea of bringing sanctity by
reflecting back the words a God wants to hear, you're asking
spiritual powers to bring conditions into your home and the people in
your home. So consider what it is you truly wish to ask for. Maybe
the actual blessing of the house in which chastity and humility are
asked for is a prayer which you might have to explore tweaking a bit
to suit your own needs, or maybe it does describe what you want in
your home. If in essence you want magnificence and light to bring a
presence of uplifting joy, that's the end game here, the shape it
takes will need to fit the spiritual powers you're calling upon, but
they can also fit the way you wish to engage those powers. Explore
your relationship with the Lord of Hosts and determine what virtues
he might bring into your home, and ask for those.

Speaking
of relationships, and the vast army of hosts, there is a vast host of
people on Facebook, so pop over there, and share our page, and if you
haven't yet, like our page, for more interesting stuff from us.
Thanks! And enjoy the rest of the Christmas season and have a Happy
New Year. Hopefully I'll have some stuff to say about making friends
with dead folks next week!